Life in the Land: Israeli Pickleball

Last Fall my wife and I bought my son a pickleball set for his birthday. I actually don’t know much about pickleball. I’ve never even seen it played, but it has clearly become a phenomenon in the United States.

I understand that it’s a cross between badminton, tennis, ping pong and wiffle ball if that helps. Like tennis the players stand on opposite sides of a low net, serve diagonally and hit the ball back and forth until someone misses. Like badminton the court is small, and standing near the net, players must have quick reflexes. Like ping pong the paddles are solid without strings and the ball is light, and like wiffle ball it uses a plastic perforated ball.

As it turns out pickleball has become popular in Israel as well, so popular in fact that at last Fall’s Pickleball World Cup in Florida, Team Israel won one gold and two silver medals, even defeating the reigning world champion. Mazel tov!

Daniel McCabe

My First Trip to Israel—pages 3 & 4

Page 3: Seven hours were lost in flight, and while darkness reigns in Lake Charles, I’m now sitting across from an Orthodox rabbi inside Zurich’s modern terminal. Outside the landscape is soaked by heaven’s tears. It’s a cool 55° and the time locally is 8:56 a.m. As we await our flight to Tel Aviv and look around, I notice that all the terminal’s main signs and advertisements are in English. We’ve also been joined by Brent and Guy, bringing our total to seven. The fog is thick and the mountains of fame cannot be seen. There is still a sense of mystery in the land of Calvin, but it has clearly been masked in gloom this day, standing in stark contrast to the strident anthem of 2001 Space Odyssey, which was piped to my ears during the last leg of my Swiss flight. Watches are for sale at every turn and army knives are prevalent too. I even saw a Furby behind glass. Ah, the reminders of home!

Page 4: Now the hair color has turned raven, and the language of the patriarchs can be heard at 37,000 feet. The trip’s log grows rather silent at this point, for the Sandman came calling for a large portion of this 3½ hour jaunt. My headache remains, but rest may be the necessary cure. The German to my left is reticent, and seat 23E will soon meet the Shepherd of Psalm 23.

We disembarked to the American tune and lyrics, “Tell me lies, Tell me sweet little lies,” boarded a crowded bus and stepped past an armed female soldier. A long line awaits, leading to a clerical beauty who welcomed me to Israel in choppy but delightfully accented English.

My bag greets me and my $200 have been transformed to 800 shekels. It’s 91° and the wind is blustery and cool. The sky is clear, but it seems that a slight haze has dampened the azure. Thirty-seven shekels bring me to the Jaffa Gate after an hour’s drive has brought me the forty-three miles to the Old City walls. The Gloria Hotel, three stars, is home for now, room 180. A black and white picture of the Old City Candle Shop in 1881 is the lone adornment on the walls of white. The mattress is firm, but the walls are thin. It’s now 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 12th, Jerusalem time.

At 7:00 p.m. we’re off to Ben Yehuda St., a short walk’s distance from the Jaffa Gate. We ate what appeared to me to be a pita with shrimp hush puppies enclosed. Obe showed us the shopping areas, and we have now returned to our rooms at the Gloria. It’s a little after 9:00 p.m.

The road to Jerusalem was modern and most signs were again emblazoned with English. The landscape was rockier than I could have reasonably imagined as we undulated through the foothills of the Shephelah to the Judean heights of Zion. My body is numb with inattention. So now I lay me down to sleep with a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. Tomorrow will begin at 6:30 a.m. with a quick shower and the whistled tune, “The Trees of the Field.”

Daniel McCabe

Trivia (Answer below)

Which of the following is incorrect?

Anthropology – Gender Relationships

Mankind is composed of male and female members, both of equal value. In the beginning God created them in His image. Today our society gets very confused over the term gender and simply defines it however it wants. But physically there are only two sexes, male and female, and they are both image-bearers of God. One is not more valuable than the other. They do, however, have different roles laid down by God, and several of these roles can be seen throughout Scripture.

The male is the head of his wife and has authority over her with certain leadership responsibilities as explained by Genesis 2:23; 3:16; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 14:35; and 1 Timothy 2:12. The husband’s leadership is properly exercised by gentleness, love, sacrifice and understanding, not in an overbearing, iron-fisted, domineering manner. In turn the wife is responsible to submit to her husband’s leadership as explained by Ephesians 5; Colossians 3; and 1 Peter 3.

The marriage of Adam and Eve demonstrates the appropriate pattern of marriage, i.e., the union between a single natural man and a single natural woman. When both the man and woman are living out their roles to operate in society as God has determined for them, then there’s wonderful harmony, peace and love. There is greatness in God’s design. When they do not fulfill these roles, problems will enter into the marriage. For example, as part of the curse, following the Fall, if the wife seeks to rule over her husband, he will respond with force—both sinful choices that lead to trouble. God’s designed roles are beautiful though they may be hard in practice due to our sinful nature. But when both the husband and wife work in cooperation with one another and live out their God-given roles with humility, accepting God’s will for their lives and not their own will, then the result is peace, contentment and true joy.

Adam Keim

Scripture Study: Mark 6:7-29

“So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them” (Mark 6:12-13).

At this time in the Lord’s ministry, He sent twelve of His disciples throughout the country, two by two, as apostles to act as His representatives in offering the kingdom to Israel. They were to rely on God for their provisions, stay in the houses of hosts in each town, and dissociate from those who rejected their message.

This was a special mission, and they were to report back to Jesus the results of their efforts (v. 30). King Herod heard of this activity because of Jesus’ fame. He even thought John the Baptist might have been resurrected to work miracles through Jesus!

Mark thus recorded the story of John’s death. The historian Josephus reports that John was held at Machaerus, one of Herod’s many fortress palaces, which was situated on the east side of the Dead Sea in what is now the country of Jordan. It was here at Herod’s lavish birthday party that he had John beheaded at the request of his wife, Herodias.

Interestingly, Herod both feared John and enjoyed listening to him speak. The political and religious sensibilities of Israel were quite complex and layered at that time. Nothing was as “black and white” as we often assume, and the same goes for our world today.

That should actually encourage us as we witness. We never know where someone is at spiritually, even if they appear a certain way to us. Just as everyone had varying degrees of readiness to receive the Lord’s message during the apostles’ mission, so do those around us. Our role is to sow the seeds of the Gospel, and God will provide any growth that might result.

Adam Keim

Answer to the Trivia

A. Caleb the Ephraimite